Researchers specializing in watershed
restoration and the composition of atmospheric aerosols received presidential
early career awards during a White House ceremony today.

Phil Roni, a fisheries research scientist
at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, Wash.,
and Daniel Cziczo, who was with NOAA’s Aeronomy Laboratory in
Boulder, Colo., were among 58 individuals who received the nation’s
highest honor for scientists early in their careers.

“It
is gratifying to see scientists earn such a high recognition this
early in their careers,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA and the nation
are fortunate to have their service and will benefit from their work.”

As a fisheries research scientist and
program leader, Roni conducted research on salmon life history and
the effects of hydropower operations on salmonids. His current research
focuses on watershed restoration and evaluating various rehabilitation
techniques such as nutrient additions, floodplain restoration, and
recovery of urban streams.

Prior to arriving at NOAA in 1995, he
worked as a marine and fisheries biologist with the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife and as a research biologist at an environmental
consulting company. Roni holds three degrees from the University of
Washington: a bachelor of arts in business (1987), a master of science
in fisheries science (1992), and a doctorate in fisheries science
(2000).

Now at ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology, in Switzerland, Czico was a research scientist
at NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research on Environmental
Sciences (CIRES) and worked at the Aeronomy Laboratory. Before coming
to NOAA in 1999, he was on the Galileo Navigation Team at the NASA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1993 to 1994.

In his work, Cziczo has applied novel
instrumentation to determine the detailed chemical composition of
aerosols. That pioneering work identified precisely which atmospheric
fine particles initiate cloud formation, which is key to understanding
the atmosphere’s radiative budget and climate.

He holds a bachelor of science in aeronautical
and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois (1992),
a master of science in geophysical sciences from the University of
Chicago (1997), and a doctorate in geophysical sciences from the University
of Chicago (1999).

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing
economic security and national safety through research to better understand
atmospheric and climate variability and to manage wisely our nation's
coastal and marine resources.